A home birth that was nearly “not allowed” in Iowa planted a seed that never stopped growing, and our anonymous guest follows that seed all the way into a Certified Professional Midwife (CPM) apprenticeship. 

Along the way, she takes a real detour, walking away from midwifery hierarchy, studying linguistics, working jobs like Starbucks and publishing, and spending years raising and homeschooling kids. 

Then a visceral dream pulls her back toward birth work, and we talk through what it really takes to return to a calling with more maturity and a clearer sense of the costs.

We get specific about the difference between a doula and a midwife, what each role does during labor, and how midwifery training works in the home birth setting. 

If you care about home birth, midwifery care, doula support, patient advocacy, and the real meaning of informed decision-making, listen through to the end. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s expecting or supporting someone who is, and leave a review so more people can find these behind-closed-doors work stories.

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One photo can change a life, and sometimes it rewires an entire career. 

This week, we sat down with an anonymous C-Suite executive who started out making holiday gifts with his mom. At 23, he was thrown into management at the Four Seasons. Then he walked away to join the Peace Corps. And that's just the beginning. From there, the path gets even wilder: Guatemala, emergency response, becoming an EMT, and eventually making the call to go to law school and build a long in-house career in healthcare and life sciences. 

We talk honestly about what it means to lead beyond the legal department when you are also responsible for HR, compliance, privacy, cybersecurity, environmental health and safety, and culture. You will hear why he says the “lawyer part” can be the easiest piece and why the hard part is earning trust, coaching people, and clearing the roadblocks so the team can deliver.

Subscribe for more anonymous workplace stories, share this with a friend who loves career pivots and leadership lessons, and leave a review so more listeners can find us. What is the boldest professional choice you have ever made?

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You think you know what teachers do all day until you hear what happens after the bell rings, after the emails pile up, and after the policies change without anyone asking the people in the room. 

This week on Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors, we’re joined by an anonymous high school math teacher with 18 years in California public schools, and she tells the truth about why relationships matter more than worksheets and why the emotional load of the job follows you home.  

We dig into the gap between what teachers can control inside their classrooms and what gets decided outside of them. She shares what she wishes every parent would do today. We also talk about “accountability” as the missing ingredient and how those patterns show up later in the workplace. Then we get real about the post-COVID classroom, safety drills, and the rise in student mental health needs. 

If you care about education, parenting, school safety, or the future workforce, this one will stick with you. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more people can hear these behind-closed-doors stories.

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Your hair color is not just “light or dark” or “warm or cool.” It is a full system, and when it is wrong, you can feel it in your mirror, your closet, and your confidence. This week, we sit down with Renee Taglia, a Master Hair Colorist & Educator and Certified Color Analyst, to talk about why personal color analysis is more than a trend and how a true, customized palette can change the way you get ready every day.

We get practical about the process. Renee explains how she combines image consulting with cosmetology so hair color stops being “correction” and starts being enhancement, plus how she navigates the tricky moment when someone brings an inspirational photo that will not flatter them. We also dig into the messy side of the industry. Finally, we talk about color psychology and how shades can hold memory, comfort, and even grief, which is why a color consultation can turn unexpectedly emotional.

Subscribe for more behind-closed-doors work stories, share this with a friend who is stuck in “nothing to wear,” and leave a review if you want more conversations like this. What is one color you love but never feel great wearing?

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Court is one of those workplaces everyone thinks they understands until you talk to someone who has actually sat inside it for 20 years. Our anonymous guest takes us from her early detour into teaching to a long career in the courthouse, including 18 years in the courtroom and a newer leadership role supervising data entry and phone intake. Along the way, we get specific about the work. We also dig into how the justice system changes over time. We talk about courtroom realities like negotiated plea deals, the role of probation recommendations, and how judge discretion shows up in bail and sentencing decisions.

If you like real workplace stories with practical insight, subscribe, leave a review, and share this with someone who loves the truth behind “official” narratives. What part of the courthouse would you want to see from the inside?

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Fear shows up in every career, even when your title says “leader.” We sit down with Dr. Tonya Jackman Hampton, Ph.D. PCC, an organizational development practitioner, executive coach, and former chief human resources officer whose career runs from early teen jobs to building ethics programs, shaping workplace culture, and leading change inside major organizations. Her story is full of real turning points: mentorship that redirects her into HR, a merger that triggers a layoff while she’s pregnant, and the hard-earned confidence that comes from learning how to land on your feet again and again.

The heart of the conversation comes from her book, 'The Myth of the Fearless Leader,' and the research behind it. She explains how her doctoral dissertation explored leaders’ relationship with fear, and how her own breast cancer journey pushed the work from theory into something urgently practical. You’ll hear her EASE fear transformation method (Engage, Explore, Execute) as a clear alternative to fight, flight, or freeze, with ideas you can apply to personal decisions, team dynamics, and organizational transformation.

If you care about leadership development, change management, HR credibility, coaching standards, and building healthier workplace relationships, this one gives you language and tools you can use right away.

Subscribe, rate, and share, then send us your take: where are you feeling fear at work right now, and what would “execute” look like for you?

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Mortgage is supposed to feel like math, paperwork, and a few signatures. What happens when it also feels like a daily test of character? 

We sit down with an anonymous mortgage expert whose working life runs from a paper route at 13 to two decades in the mortgage and real estate world. He breaks down what he’s building right now: a call center-based revenue engine for a regional bank that targets homeowners with strong home equity but crushing high interest debt.  

We also talk about what it feels like to “start over” later in life, and how to earn trust when borrowers assume there’s always a catch.

Then we go behind closed doors on the subprime era. He shares the wild workplace stories, how incentives warped behavior, and why the industry’s public image changed so fast after the crash. 

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Someone finally said the quiet part out loud: burnout can make you do weird things, like faking an emergency on Zoom just to escape a meeting. 

This week, we’re joined by La'Tonya ("LT") Rease Miles, author of "Smart Girl," adjunct faculty at Santa Clara University, and co-founder of non-profit My Tribe Media. She brings the kind of honesty we love: funny, sharp, and a little too relatable.

We talk through her nonlinear career journey, from washing dogs in a Virginia pet grooming shop to earning a PhD at UCLA, building programs for first-generation college students, and eventually stepping away from higher ed administration when the “this isn’t sustainable” feeling became impossible to ignore. 

We also dig into the real founder experience: uneven income, endless planning, and the myth that success happens overnight, especially for women founders and founders of color. 

Subscribe, rate, and share Workplace Confessions: Behind Closed Doors, then tell us what moment hit you hardest and why.

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Workplace investigations are supposed to reveal the truth, but most companies accidentally design a process that breeds silence, fear, and repeat drama. We’re joined by Patti Perez, a former employment lawyer turned HR leader and third-party investigator who has conducted thousands of workplace investigations and now trains the next generation to do the work with rigor and humanity. From quid pro quo harassment to messy breakups that spill into the office, Patti explains what these cases really look like when the door closes and the interviews begin.

Subscribe, share this with a manager or HR friend, and leave a review with your take: what makes you trust a workplace investigation process enough to speak up?

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A bartender gets pneumonia, misses work, and the message lands hard: you can give everything to a job and still be treated as disposable. That turning point sends our guest, Lady Ruby Rebel, in an unexpected direction, toward a second career as a professional dominatrix. 

Ruby breaks down what people get wrong about her profession, especially the assumption that domination involves sex. She explains the real job: training, vetting, clear rules, and the constant responsibility of keeping sessions safe. 

We talk through how she sets the terms of an engagement, what “total transparency” looks like, and why crossing a boundary ends the session immediately. Her story about a wealthy, famous client trying to change the rules mid-session is a masterclass in enforcing limits when power and entitlement show up in the room.

Subscribe, rate, and share Workplace Confessions Behind Closed Doors, and if Ruby’s story hit home, leave a review and tell us: what’s one boundary you’re setting this week?

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